New research using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows that forming giant planets is a race against time. The study examined 72 young, Sun-like stars and their planet-forming disks.

Led by Naman Bajaj of the University of Arizona and co-authored by SETI Institute scientist Uma Gorti, the research is one of the largest studies of planet formation done with Webb. The findings have been published in The Astronomical Journal.

Using the telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument, the team tracked escaping gas through molecular hydrogen and ionized neon. They found that different kinds of winds strip gas from disks at different stages of a system’s early life.

Gas is the key raw material for building giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn. If a disk loses its gas too quickly, developing planets may not have enough time to build their massive atmospheres.

“Dissipation of disk gas sets a fundamental clock for planet formation,” said Gorti. Once the gas is gone, the chance to build gas-rich planets is essentially over.